External audiences in a Quality Management System

Let us think about your organisation’s external audiences. External customers include actual or potential buyers or users of a product or service and a host of other people, groups or organisations who might have an influence on the organisation’s behaviour. Below we list a fairly typical range.

Audiences who might buy from your organisation: 

• consumers 
• distributors 
• government departments 
• businesses. 

Audiences your organisation might wish to influence: 

• suppliers 
• supporters 
• donors 
• government 
• society as a whole 
• international agencies (e.g. UN, WHO, WTO) 
• bankers 
• commentators 
• competitors 
• pressure groups, such as environmental groups 
• the media. 

No doubt you can add to this list from your own experience. Whoever your audiences are, you need to find an appropriate way to inform, influence and communicate with them. 

Some of the messages you send might be saying, “We have something for you”. Your organisation might be launching a new brand or a new aspect of its consultancy service, or perhaps a “new, improved” version of a long-established product. Other messages might be saying, “We are better/more dependable/friendlier/more concerned about the environment than our competitors”. 

Some reasons for communicating with external audiences are: 

• Increased sales might result from promoting the organisation’s growing portfolio of brands. For example, a company with a reputation for general outdoor wear might develop and promote a new range of specialist wear for adventure and travel. Advertisements can announce this to targeted external audiences who are already aware of the brand. 
• Enhancing the image of a place, an organisation or a brand should result in customers having a more positive attitude. For an organisation this might lead to an increase in the number of investors. For example, there was a period when some holidaymakers rejected the idea of visiting Spain, since they perceived it as being primarily for holidays by the sea. This changed after advertising campaigns in magazines promoted the cultural richness of cities such as Madrid, with its numerous museums and art galleries.
• Positioning the brand means the target audience understands what the brand does and what is unique about it. In the UK hotel market, Travelodge is positioned as offering good-quality overnight budget accommodation. Initially, this meant accommodation without some of the extra services that drive up price (for example, no telephone in the room and no room service). By contrast, Forte’s top-range, exclusive international hotels are positioned as being some of the world’s best hotels, offering customised service and unparalleled splendour, and prices to match.
• Influencing the purchasing habits of customers and trying to make them more brand-loyal so that whenever they but a product or service they return to the same brand or organisation.
• Providing information is a key factor in all communications. Newspaper and magazine advertisements for cars often provide information to enable comparisons to be made between different models, as well as informing the potential customer of availability. Classified press advertising is a prime source of information, although the way that people interpret the information might not be as the advertiser intended! 
• Reporting on outcomes: some organisations need to report on outcomes to government departments and interested agencies.
• Monitoring and auditing activities is a key requirement for a number of organisations, which will produce reports and plans as part of this process. 
• Customer care, such as the provision of after-sales care, will reassure customers and ensure that they are more likely to buy again or tell others about an organisation's products and services. Communicating the ways in which it cares will therefore help the organisation both directly and indirectly.
• Reinforcement of the purchasing decisions is also an important role of communications. The advertisement for Range Rover is probably intended to reinforce as much as it is intended to persuade people to buy it.